Las Vegas White Castle Overwhelmed By Business After Opening

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

New Store Closes Temporarily After A Day To Recover From Onslaught of Traffic

A brand new White Castle restaurant, open 24 hours, opened on the Las Vegas strip on Tuesday, January 27, only to – temporarily – close its doors just a day later due to overwhelming patronage. According to the Daily Mail, customers stood in line for up to two hours in order to obtain the famous square hamburgers. The very first customer reportedly waited in line for more than three hours for the honor of ordering a double cheeseburger, French fries, onion rings and a shake.

The chain tweeted an announcement of the brief hiatus: “Due to overwhelming demand #WhiteCastleVegas is currently closed for maintenance and to restock. We will let you know when doors are reopen!”

Jamie Richardson, White Castle VP, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the store sold 4,000 sliders per hour in the first 12 hours of opening. "We didn't think it was possible," he said. "Las Vegas is the epicenter of all craving.” Richardson also clarified that the hiatus was not because the store ran out of food, but rather to give workers a chance to rest, and a chance to clean the facilities. He said that he was not aware of a White Castle ever closing in the chain's 94-year history because of such intense demand.

The restaurant tweeted on Wednesday: 'The #WhiteCastleVegas doors are open and we're back in business. Thank you Vegas for your patience! Let's #EAT.'

According to The Las Vegas Sun, the nearest location is more than 1,500 miles away in Missouri.

To honor its host city, the new White Castle store offered specially cut slider patties shaped like casino dice.

The White Castle restaurant is located on the Las Vegas Strip between The Venetian and Harrah's Las Vegas.

Prior to the opening, White Castle officials hosted several job fairs in Las Vegas to attract business for their first day. The company previously operated White Castle food trucks across town and patrons reportedly waited in line as long as four hours just to be served from the trucks.

White Castle opened its first restaurants in Wichita, Kansas in 1921,